Living with Clay: California Ceramics Collections

The Nicholas and Lee Begovich Gallery of California State University, Fullerton presents Living with Clay: California Ceramics Collections. Curated by Rody López, this exhibition pays homage to distinguished collectors that have amassed impressive collections of ceramic artworks from some of the most respected artists in the field, all reflecting an insatiable passion for clay.

This rare exhibition features artists of local, regional, national, and international significance with a wide range of traditions that include studio pottery, the 1960s clay revolution, and today’s contemporary innovations. Living with Clay offers glimpses into the private lives of California collectors, each with a deep connection between the clay medium and their way of life, and salutes their tastes, ideas, and eccentricities. Bracketed by the gallery walls, the collectors are represented by their belongings: furniture, rugs, lamps, books—their history—and not only their ceramic art. Enter the homes and lives of Julie and David Armstrong, Judy and Richard Jacobs, Gloria and Sonny Kamm, MAW Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Richard Oelschlaeger, and Diane and Igal Silber, a distinct group who have followed and supported artists that have boldly made their mark in the history of the clay medium. With over sixty artists, the exhibition includes: Jerome Ackerman, Rudy Autio, Ralph Bacerra, Tom Coleman, Josh Deweese, Carmen Dionyse, Betty Davenport Ford, Viola Frey, David Furman, Julia Galloway, Shoji Hamada, Robin Hopper, Jeff Irwin, Sergei Isupov, Tony Marsh, Beverly Mayeri, Alleghany Meadows, Gertrude and Otto Natzler, Vincent Palacios, Don Reitz, Kevin Snipes, Paul Soldner, Robert Sperry, Jindra Vikova, Peter Voulkos, Patti Warashina, Varda Yatom, Ward Youry, and many more.

Living with Clay: California Ceramics Collections will be documented with a full-color catalogue published by CSUF with essays by Rody N. Lopez, curator; Karen Crews Hendon, Interim Gallery Director; Richard C. Jacobs Ph.D., Collector and Author; Christy Johnson, Independent Curator and Writer; Garth Johnson, Curator of Ceramics, Everson Museum Of Art; Jo Lauria, Independent Curator and Writer, and Judy Seckler, Freelance Journalist and Arts Writer.